An international non-governmental organisation, Synergos Nigeria has entered into partnership with FCE Group AG, a Swiss blockchain company, to develop and implement a digital product to drive significant structural changes in the country’s agricultural sector.
The country director of Synergos Nigeria, Mr Victor Adejoh, told journalists yesterday in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital that the partnership aimed to address the lingering food insecurity in the country.
Adejoh said that recent changes in climate and the economy as well as projections of the nation’s population doubling by 2050, placed a focus on agriculture as a sector requiring urgent and immediate actions.
He held that the Nigerian agriculture sector over the years had been in deep crisis and recently, worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, which had left nearly 100 million people dependent on farming in poverty.
He noted that a versatile digital platform for agricultural infrastructure was required for better access and exchange of information, getting the best offers, building links with logistics, finance, insurance, and education.
According to him, the pilot project of the collaboration would demonstrate trust building and connectedness in the agricultural value chain.
He observed that smallholder farmers in Nigeria still lacked access to up-to-date market information and were unable to plan and optimise their work across value chains.
He regretted that unscrupulous intermediaries often take advantage of the lack of awareness.
Adejoh added that Synergos Nigeria had already conducted detailed diagnostics in several states of Nigeria, coordinating the development of roadmaps for the transformation of agriculture with a range of multi-stakeholders.
He hinted that the open digital platform for the farmer’s operations resulting from the partnership with FCE Group AG would utilise a cloud platform based on TransparenTerra for digital trusted interaction of all participants in the agricultural sector.
“Digital analysis and planning will reduce the impact of farming on climate change. Comprehensive solutions will support seamless transition from linear to circular economy,” he noted.
He said that the collaboration had the right focus and perspective on issues of inequality, poverty, climate change, and global migration.
“Our goal as a Swiss company is to use breakthrough in technology to restore trust, build ultimate transparency, and mitigate the agricultural and industrial impact on climate change and ultimately, support women.
“I believe that our project will show how the right combination of technologies will make the progressive shift in the agricultural sector, moving from development to agribusiness with now softer mode, and avoid social and climate catastrophe,” he said.
